Time has finally come! Let me present to you the details of PUMA MB.01 that you are concerned about. Although it’s been only two months since I’ve got and played in it and its overall performances require some more tests, it is better for you to first get intimate knowledge of the sneaker that you’ve got or may be considering purchasing. After all, we all know that the details are an important part of the whole story.
So is it a HIT or MISS? Does it deserve the dollar? Go along with me in checking the details!
LaMelo Ball’s first signature basketball shoe, the MB.01, is also PUMA’s first signature sneaker since the company returned to the basketball market in 2018. The bold colorway and unique design have been quite a nice combination of Bauer’s personal style.
As you might have noticed, the shoe box is covered with brilliant cosmic colors and has a window on the lid. It doesn’t take a detective to know such information as size and Art.No because they’ve been printed on it. So no more reiteration here.
As an aside, it is truly considerate of the brand to place a hard paper inside so as to reduce the damage to shoes during transportation.
In theory, the 3D-printed vamp can fit the foot better and the vamp material can also provide excellent support and protection. But, honestly, I don’t think it is as good as it is hyped. Judging from my two months’ play, the vamp wrapping, and the support and protection are not bad, but not to the point as to deeply impress me, either. So you may not expect too much of it.
Printed on the vamp is the creative Slogan of Ball’s famous “NOT FROM HERE”.
Although the vamp alone is not impressive, the shoelaces, in contrast, help make up for its imperfectness by improving the overall wrapping to a great extent. There are 6 groups of shoelace holes in total. The first 2 groups are the kind of dynamic design while the 3-5 groups are of metal material. On top of that, there’s also the setup on the tongue that effectively prevents the tongue from deflecting during movements.
In spite of all that, trying the shoe on, in my opinion, is best if you think you’ve got an unusual foot shape and want to avoid any discomfort that may be caused by picking the wrong size.
One big thing about the MB.01 is the different materials used on both sides of shoe. As you can notice in the picture, the patterns there are also different from each other.
For the collar, it is designed to be high inside and low outside which brings more flexibility for players.
The forefoot of the outsole here is upturned, which plays a significant role in enhance overall stability.
The rigid TPU also improves lateral stability.
The midsole adopts NITRO FOAM cushion technology with PUMA’s supercritical nitrogen foaming craft. The lightweight and low-density FOAM material, an integration of softness and comfort, can offer powerful feedback. In addition, the wave-shape midsole also supports the arch area to a certain extent. Well, on paper that sounds terrific.
Nevertheless, based on my plays of the past two months, I don’t think PUMA MB.01 come off as particularly luxurious or anything crazy from a cushion standpoint, though it is still more than sufficient for me to play high-intensity plays. However, I am not saying that it is not good. Depending on what you require of it and the time it takes you to really start feeling the full potential of the cushion, you’ll feel that things are just awesome once you are used to it.
On the outsole, the words are very special. The “RARE” displayed there represent Ball’s extraordinary talent that can’t be imitated on the court. In the forefoot, centering the force point, the multi-directional lines can offer solider traction while the plenty of diamond-shaped lines on the back provide more stability.
A single shoe of size 42 weighs about 413.8 grams. These, of course, aren’t the lightest on paper but they are never bottom-heavy or clunky in general.
Overall:
This PUMA MB.01 is a wonderful model that has delivered almost everything I need, though there do exist some flaws.
Personally, I can’t go true to size, and here it is recommended to go down 1/2 a size. But if you think you’ve got wide feet, you might as well go with your regular size.
The width of the footbed is moderate, and when I fasten the shoelaces, I can immediately feel the strong wrapping at the vamp and the heel. In a word, my feet just sit comfortably inside without any heel slippage or side-to-side movement.
For the full-foot cushion, the energy feedback from the heel is far more obvious than that of the forefoot, but I think this is just right to the point for me who are used to landing on my heel.
And whether it is the rubber on the outside of the forefoot, or the hard TPU on the outside of the heel, they both play a very good role in improving the overall stability.
All in all, I think those of you who usually play on outdoor courts, the odds are that you’ll dig this one a lot too!